the new teacher institute is the fruition of heat master's vision when he first arrived atown. his goal was to establish a teacher training program that combines the practical and theoretical aspects of classroom teaching. it is the school's conviction that independent schools have the responsibility to train teachers for both the public and private school worlds. the new teacher institute has been in existence for 23 years and i was personally involve first as a 5th grade humanities teacher who worked as an intern and now as director. there are 15 interns at our school in all classes k-8. many enter into the world of teaching with barely any practical teaching. i was such a teacher. many new teachers have little or no . guidance. great teachers do not emerge after two years in the new teacher institute, but the potentially great ones have developed confidence, humility, a sense of humor, flexibility and patience, as they have developed their own classroom management and teaching style. they know no one ever stops learning about best practices in matter how many years they have